The price of petrol in India is set to go through the roof. Reason? Global oil prices are at all-time high levels (about $130 per barrel) and the nation's public sector oil companies can no longer sustain the heavy subsidy on petroleum products.

So the government has no other way out but to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene and align them with global oil costs.

In dollar terms, the cost of petrol in India (in Mumbai, specifically) is around $1.20 (Rs 50.76) per litre. And it is set to rise by about 10-15 per cent.

But even with the subsidy, India's petrol prices are higher than those in the United States or Russia or China or Pakistan, not to mention the Gulf nations that are the world's major oil producers. So imagine what will happen once subsidy is removed or reduced.

In India, 52 per cent of the price of petrol consists of duties and taxes (customs, excise and sales tax) leading to the high costs that people pay for.

So which are the nations where the price of petrol is highest and lowest in the world?

In Turkey, the prices of petrol are the highest in the world. Petrol costs a whopping $2.68 or about Rs 113.30 per litre here. Guess, it's not a place one would want to drive in.